Juan Soto does what he said he was going to do: Two and a half years after turning down $440 million from the Nationals, with whom he won a World Series, and six weeks after declaring "I'll be open to this and every single team" within minutes of finishing the World Series with the Yankees, Juan Soto did exactly what he'd promised, and agreed to the largest contract in baseball history: $765 million for 15 years with the New York Mets.

posted by werty to baseball at 08:05 AM - 6 comments

Fernando Valenzuela Dead at 63: His unorthodox pitching motion, distinct physique and seemingly mysterious aura left an indelible mark on people from all walks of life, whether it was Los Angeles’ Latino community grappling with the displacement created when the Dodgers built their stadium, Mexican immigrants and their families or artists inspired by his wizardry on the mound.

posted by NoMich to baseball at 08:01 AM - 4 comments

MLB hit king Pete Rose dead at 83: Pete Rose, Major League Baseball's hit king who was later banned from baseball entirely, died on Monday afternoon, the Cincinnati Reds announced.

posted by BornIcon to baseball at 08:50 PM - 4 comments

Let’s Go Oakland!: A's leave Oakland a winner. They also leave plenty of tears and 57 years of memories. Scott Van Pelt reacts to Oakland Athletics departure: ‘The worst of what sports can be.'

posted by NoMich to baseball at 03:04 PM - 0 comments

Pirates Cut Player Four At-Bats Before $200,000 Bonus: The Pittsburgh Pirates, true to their miserly commitment to mediocrity, released first baseman Rowdy Tellez after he made 421 plate appearances this season. If he'd gotten four more, the team had to pay him a $200,000 performance bonus. The Pirates have had six straight losing seasons and only three playoff appearances the last 30 years.

posted by rcade to baseball at 06:29 PM - 4 comments

Giants Legend Willie Mays Dies at 93: Willie Mays, the center fielder thought to be baseball's greatest all-around player, died Tuesday at age 93. The Say Hey Kid had a career that began in the 1940s in the Negro Leagues, spent 21 seasons with the New York and San Francisco Giants, and ended with the New York Mets in 1973. He was the rare great hitter who loved fielding as much if not more. "Don't get me wrong: I like to hit," he said in 1955. "But there's nothing like getting out there in the outfield, running after a ball and throwing somebody out trying to take that extra base."

posted by BornIcon to baseball at 10:54 AM - 7 comments

Ready for some glow in the dark baseball?: AKA cosmic baseball. Watch the whole game here. The change over from regular baseball lighting to the black lights happens at 1:55:52.

posted by NoMich to baseball at 03:44 PM - 1 comment

MLB incorporates Negro Leagues statistics: Josh Gibson became Major League Baseball's career leader with a .372 batting average, surpassing Ty Cobb's .367. Gibson also became the career leader in slugging percentage (.718) and OPS (1.177), moving ahead of Babe Ruth (.690 and 1.164).

posted by NoMich to baseball at 10:18 AM - 5 comments

Shohei Ohtani's interpreter accused of massive theft: Representatives of Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani on Wednesday accused his interpreter of engaging in a “massive theft” of the ballplayer’s funds to place bets with an allegedly illegal bookmaker who is the target of a federal investigation.

posted by NoMich to baseball at 10:42 PM - 2 comments

Adrian Beltre, Joe Mauer, and Todd Helton elected to Cooperstown.: Beltre and Mauer are first-balloters; Helton makes it in on his sixth try. They will be inducted along with former manager Jim Leyland.

posted by Ufez Jones to baseball at 07:29 PM - 4 comments

Shohei Ohtani signs record deal with the Los Angeles...Dodgers: In the biggest MLB contract so far, the Dodgers and Ohtani have agreed to a 10-year, $700 million deal.

posted by Ufez Jones to baseball at 09:17 PM - 6 comments

Texas Rangers Win World Series: Something I've been waiting to say since I was a seven-year-old in Garland, Texas, in 1974 listening to games on WBAP when I was supposed to be asleep: The Texas Rangers have won the World Series!

posted by rcade to baseball at 11:15 PM - 6 comments

Rangers Win Game 1 on Adolis Garcia Walk-Off Home Run: A Corey Seager two-run tying home run in the ninth and an Adolis Garcia walk off home run in the 11th gave the Texas Rangers a 6-5 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks in game 1 of the World Series. Garcia also broke the record for most postseason RBIs with 22.

posted by rcade to baseball at 12:30 AM - 0 comments

Texas Rangers Advance to World Series: In an American League Championship Series where no team won a home game, the Texas Rangers defeated the Houston Astros in game 7 with an 11-4 walloping to advance to the World Series. Bruce Bochy becomes the first manager to lead three teams to the series. Adolis Garcia was chosen MVP with 14 RBIs, the most ever by a player in an LCS.

posted by rcade to baseball at 11:46 PM - 4 comments

Rangers Sweep Orioles, Advance to ALCS: The Texas Rangers swept the Baltimore Orioles in three games after doing the same to the Tampa Bay Rays in two. Next up the Minnesota Twins or the Houston Astros in the American League Championship Series. The Rangers are bombing opposing pitchers for 6.4 runs a game in the postseason and got two great starts out of Nathan Eovaldi when no one expected much from their pitching.

posted by rcade to baseball at 05:24 PM - 2 comments

Minnesota Twins End 18-Game Postseason Losing Streak: The Minnesota Twins won their wild card series opener Tuesday over the Toronto Blue Jays, ending an 18-game playoff losing streak. After beating the New York Yankees on Oct. 5, 2004, in the first game of their American League Division Series, the Twins lost that series in 4, got swept by the Oakland A's in 2006, swept by the Yankees in 2009 and 2010, beaten by the Yankees in a one-game wild card in 2017, swept by the Yankees in 2019 and swept by the Houston Astros in 2020. But no one has to mention all of that ever again.

posted by rcade to baseball at 10:01 PM - 7 comments

Max Scherzer Likely to Miss Playoffs Too: Texas Rangers pitcher Max Scherzer has a teres major strain (never heard of that) and will miss the rest of the regular season and "likely" the playoffs as well, general manager Chris Young said. The Rangers are a game behind Houston in the AL West race and in second in the wild card race, with Seattle and Toronto close enough to potentially keep them out of the postseason.

posted by rcade to baseball at 01:01 PM - 8 comments

Stephen Strasburg Retires from Baseball: Stephen Strasburg is calling it quits on a career that saw him debut as the most highly touted fireballer in years, become World Series MVP in 2019 and finally be undone by frequent arm injuries -- all while in the uniform of the Washington Nationals. His 10.5 strikeouts per nine innings is seventh all-time but his 113 wins are 31 lower than anyone in the Hall of Fame. "It's a miracle what he was able to accomplish despite the glitchy pitching mechanics that scouts warned would be his demise," writes D.J. Dunston of Deadspin.

posted by Ufez Jones to baseball at 07:53 PM - 3 comments

Chicago White Sox Fire GM, Vice President: The Chicago White Sox have fired executive vice president Ken Williams and general manager Rick Hahn, parting with 31- and 21-year employees who were with the team for the 2005 World Series victory over the Houston Astros and a lot of bad baseball ever since. The Sox have only reached the postseason three times since that championship and are a dismal 49-77 this season.

posted by rcade to baseball at 05:27 PM - 0 comments

Atlanta Braves Looking Like Best Offense in MLB History: After 120 games the Atlanta Braves are on pace for 313 home runs, which would break the all-time record of the 2019 Minnesota Twins by 6. They also have a team OPS+ of 122, one shy of the record held by the 2017 Houston Asterisks. "Every night someone new is gonna get you," an American League hitter told Fox Sports. "Or all of them get you, and then you're fucked."

posted by rcade to baseball at 07:23 PM - 1 comment

Dodgers Retire Fernando Valenzuela's Number: The Los Angeles Dodgers are retiring Fernando Valenzuela's number 34 and it only took 32 years after his last pitch for the club to make it happen. The team had a rule of not retiring a number unless a player made the Hall of Fame and Valenzuela never got close to induction. Longtime team broadcaster Jaime Jarrin said, "I think Fernando should be in the Hall of Fame because even though his numbers aren't extraordinary and he didn't pitch a lot of years, what he did for baseball no other player has done."

posted by rcade to baseball at 11:22 AM - 2 comments

Texas Rangers Arm Up on Pitchers: The best offense in baseball has added starting pitchers Max Scherzer and Jordan Montgomery and reliever Chris Strattion. The Texas Rangers sent infielder Thomas Saggese and pitchers Tekoah Roby and John King to the Cardinals for Montgomery and Stratton and infielder and center fielder Luisangel Acuna to the Mets for Scherzer.

posted by rcade to baseball at 12:41 PM - 2 comments

Shohei Ohtani is very, very good at baseball.: In the first game of today's doubleheader at Detroit, Ohtani threw his first complete game, an 11K, 1-hit shutout. And then followed that up with a 2-HR performance in Game 2.

posted by Ufez Jones to baseball at 09:52 PM - 7 comments

Peter Gammons: Diamond Vision: It went so far that [UNC coach, Dean] Smith gave Peter this firm career advice: “You’re a good listener. You could write for a living.” So, it's Dean's fault that we got Peter Gammons as a sports writer. And only one of the greatest ever.

posted by NoMich to baseball at 03:36 PM - 4 comments

Elly De La Cruz: Not since 1919

posted by tommybiden to baseball at 08:53 AM - 4 comments

Domingo German pitches a perfect game: It's only the fourth perfect game in New York Yankees history; German improbably joins David Cone, David Wells and Don Larsen in immortality. It's the first perfect game in MLB since 2012.

posted by werty to baseball at 12:18 AM - 1 comment

Jacob deGrom Needs Tommy John Surgery: Six starts into his five-year, $185 million contract with the Texas Rangers, Jacob deGrom will undergo Tommy John surgery on his UCL and be out all of this season and most of next. The Rangers are leading the AL West at 40-20 and were hoping to get him back for the playoffs. "The man is the best pitcher on the planet when he's healthy, but there's one little problem. He's never healthy," writes Bob Nightengale of USA Today.

posted by rcade to baseball at 09:06 AM - 5 comments

MLB Takes Over San Diego Padres Broadcasts: Diamond Sports has aired its last San Diego Padres game after the network stopped making rights payments while it undergoes bankruptcy. Major League Baseball is taking over and will air games on cable and the league's streaming app. Diamond Sports parent Sinclair paid $10.6 billion in 2019 for the networks now called Bally Sports but the deal didn't include streaming rights. It got them for NBA and NHL teams but struck out with MLB.

posted by rcade to baseball at 12:52 PM - 1 comment

Texas Rangers Bats Are Booming: The Texas Rangers are leading the majors with 6.4 runs a game and second in team OPS at 118. One of the surprising sources of that massive production is a player they acquired from the St. Louis Cardinals for "cash considerations" three years ago: 30-year-old Cuban outfielder Adolis Garcia. "He has the bat speed and muscle to pulverize the league’s nastiest pitches, as he proved last week when he became the first hitter to go deep off Atlanta Braves flamethrower Spencer Strider twice in one game," writes Yahoo Sports sabermetrician Zach Crizer.

posted by rcade to baseball at 09:45 AM - 0 comments

When is Olivia Pichardo Switching to Softball? Never: Olivia Pichardo is the first female to play Division I baseball, making the Brown University team as a walk-on. Her freshman season was rocky, with one at-bat as a pinch hitter, but she is undeterred. "I wasn't telling myself the odds. I was just telling myself that I was going to make the team," Pichardo said.

posted by rcade to baseball at 02:59 PM - 0 comments

Ryan Brasier Will Be Missed: "I'm not here to defend Brasier's pitching ability, he was bad more often than he was good. I am here to point out that he was a goat, taking the blame for all that was wrong with the Red Sox. Maybe it was the crook in his neck, giving him a perpetually confused expression. Maybe it was the fact that he didn't seem to care, rarely showing emotion after being lifted from the game. Or maybe it was that his name is perfect for pissed-off Bostonians to say as they walk down Landsdowne: 'fahkin Brasiah'." -- Jacob Roy, Over the Monster

posted by rcade to baseball at 12:31 PM - 0 comments

What Happened to the St. Louis Cardinals?: Favorites to win the National League Central again, the St. Louis Cardinals have instead gone 15-25 and dwell in the cellar of the NL. Every starter has an ERA above 4.00, relievers have blown 11 saves and for the first time since 2004, Yadier Molina is no longer behind the plate. The Redbirds signed Willson Contreras for five years and $87.5 million to succeed him, and in a sign of how that's going, he was briefly demoted to DH.

posted by rcade to baseball at 10:27 AM - 5 comments

Major Leaguers Pfear the Pfister: Major League Baseball players who stay at the 130-year-old Pfister Hotel in Milwaukee during road trips claim the place is haunted. Adrian Beltre heard phantom knocking in the hallway and the TV kept turning itself on. Carlos Gomez heard voices in the shower and his iPod erupted with static noise. Bryce Harper said his clothes moved. Instead of staying there this week for a three-game road series, Mookie Betts of the Los Angeles Dodgers is renting an Airbnb. "You can tell me what happened after," he said. "I just don't want to find out myself."

posted by rcade to baseball at 10:31 AM - 4 comments

Gene Collier: I'm Watching Less Baseball, and It's Grand: Now that Major League games are shorter, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette sports columnist Gene Collier is excited to have an extra half-hour in his day -- to a point. "Who in America, other than the people who are paid to, watches baseball as a staple of their quotidian existence? Too often, the answer is old guys. What are old guys going to do with an additional 25 minutes every day? I wouldn’t presume to speculate, but of course we’ll no longer have an excuse for not having our pill organizers properly filled, and we might want to consider decisive action on those toe nails, you know, before they reach the street."

posted by rcade to baseball at 12:07 PM - 0 comments

Alabama baseball coach Brad Bohannon fired after link to suspicious bets: Sportsbook surveillance video indicated that the person who placed the bets was communicating with Bohannon at the time

posted by NoMich to baseball at 10:20 PM - 3 comments

That's Not the Name of the Negro League Museum: In a pregame segment Friday in Kansas City, longtime Oakland A's play-by-play man Glen Kuiper wanted to tell people about his great visit to the Negro League Baseball Museum in the city. But he called it something else entirely. He's apologized and been suspended. Museum president Bob Kendrick had this reaction: "I welcomed Glen to the NLBM yesterday and know he was genuinely excited to be here. The word is painful and has no place in our society. And while I don't pretend to know Glen's heart I do know that my heart is one of forgiveness. I hope all of you will find it in yourselves to do the same!"

posted by rcade to baseball at 09:58 PM - 3 comments

Daniel Murphy Attempting MLB Comeback with Long Island Ducks: Former New York Mets All-Star Daniel Murphy is back in baseball at age 38, playing for the Long Island Ducks and hoping to return to the majors three years after his exit. A rewatch of Ken Burns' Baseball inspired his bid. "I underestimated just how cool our game was and how cool the guys were who played before me," he said.

posted by rcade to baseball at 09:25 AM - 1 comment

13-Year Minor Leaguer Plays First Game in Majors: After 1,155 games over 13 minor league seasons, Drew Maggi finally played in a Major League game for the Pittsburgh Pirates. The infielder was drafted by the team in 2010 in the 15th round and received a $468,000 bonus. He got a standing ovation from the crowd Wednesday, entering as a pinch runner and striking out in one at-bat. "I saw my dad crying. I don't think I ever saw him cry before," Maggi said.

posted by rcade to baseball at 11:58 AM - 1 comment

Oakland A's Reach Deal on Stadium Land in Las Vegas: The Oakland Athletics have struck a deal on a 49-acre site near the Las Vegas Strip to open a new stadium by 2027, saying goodbye to the city after 55 seasons. Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao had been in daily negotiations to keep the team with a new waterfront ballpark. Thao said, "It is clear to me that the A’s have no intention of staying in Oakland and have simply been using this process to try to extract a better deal out of Las Vegas." Vegas will be the fourth home for the franchise, which began in Philadelphia in 1901 and moved to Kansas City in 1955.

posted by rcade to baseball at 10:33 AM - 3 comments

Yankee Stadium Opened 100 Years Ago Today: On April 18, 1923, the original Yankee Stadium opened. A crowd of 60,000 saw Babe Ruth batting third for New York against the Boston Red Sox. Ruth said before the game, "I'd give a year of my life if I can hit a home run in the first game in this new park." In the third inning he hit the first homer in its history.

posted by rcade to baseball at 10:57 AM - 3 comments